Parrish Shoes Sign – Keene, New Hampshire - Atlas Obscura

Parrish Shoes Sign

Keene, New Hampshire

A recreated sign from the movie Jumanji has become a makeshift tribute to the film's late star. 

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After the magic board game fantasy, Jumanji finished filming in the city of Keene, New Hampshire the crew erased all traces of their presence, but the citizens went ahead and repainted one of the movie’s iconic signs which has as of early 2015 become a place of mourning in the wake of star Robin Williams’ death. 

Jumanji told the tale of a young boy who becomes lost in a magic board game only to be released years later as an adult played by funnyman, Robin Williams. In the film, the boy is the scion of the Parrish Shoes empire, a footwear factory that provided for their town in its heyday. During filming, the producers added a sign for the fictional shoe company to a wall in downtown Keene. After filming, the producers painted over the sign to restore the building to how it was before, but the town loved their ties to the film so much that they repainted the sign.

The sign still graces the side of a Keene building and was simply a cinematic oddity until Williams’ recent and tragic death, when the sign became a memorial with mourners leaving flowers and candles. More than just a movie star that filmed in the area, Williams was presented the keys to the city during his lifetime. 

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